1072 Tolstoy, Leo
Leo Tolstoy’s day, it probably triggered very dif-
ferent emotions—emotions indicative of a vulner-
ability that does not exist today. Because of this and
Tolstoy’s subtle hints, the modern reader should be
careful in his or her reading, taking care to under-
stand the small nuances that will inform his or her
understanding of pregnancy and childbirth in War
and Peace.
Tolstoy weaves this aspect of life into his text
early on. In the second chapter of the novel, the
reader is introduced to Princess Bolkonsky, who is
“soon to be a mother.” The author does not linger on
the fact, simply informs the reader of her condition,
detailing it with her other attributes; it is one more
thing that others enjoy about her. Tolstoy does not
dwell on the dangers of childbirth, nor on the fears
the mother-to-be might be harboring. The first hint
of the dangers of childbirth is expressed in Lise’s
confession of fear to her husband. Her fear at first
seems to be solely based on her concern for his life
as he enlists to join the war. However, her calling
him an egoist, quickly followed by “he is deserting
me, shutting me up alone in the country. . . . And he
doesn’t expect me to be afraid” belies a fear not only
for his life but also for her own life, her baby’s life,
and of the unknown that is childbirth.
As the novel progresses, the reader comes to
realize that the little countess’s fears are not with-
out reason. When Tolstoy introduces the Rostov
family, he describes Countess Rostov as “forty-five
years old, and obviously exhausted by child-bearing.
She had had twelve children.” The reader should be
alerted first to the evident reference to the toll that
childbirth has on the mother’s physical being. And
to some extent Princess Bolkonsky does perhaps
fear the changes that will affect her own person. But
one should read between the lines of the text. The
countess has had 12 children; however, only four
appear to have survived. After the author makes
clear to the reader that Countess Rostov has had
many children, he then introduces the four living
children: the oldest, 17-year-old Vera; 16-year-old
Nikolay; 13-year-old Natasha; and the youngest,
Petya. While this alone may not have an impact on
the reader, the countess’s conversation should leave
no doubt as to the vulnerability of the young at birth
and throughout their childhood. The countess
tells her guest, “What miseries, what anxieties one
has gone through for the happiness one has in them
now! And even now one feels more dread than joy
over them. One’s always in terror! . . . There are so
many dangers.” And these dangers are not solely
limited to the child.
The dangers that childbirth poses to the mother
are illustrated at a later point in the novel and are
more directly addressed. Given the foreshadowing
that Tolstoy uses earlier in the novel expressing
Lise Bolkonsky’s fear and hinting at children’s high
mortality rate, the reader may suspect that the child
born to the little countess will not survive. It is in
his denial of the reader’s expectations that Tolstoy
confronts the perils that childbirth presents to the
mother. Throughout her labor, the author refers to
the terror that she cannot keep from showing, and
he describes a combination of terror and pleas for
help in her eyes: “Why am I suffering? help me.” In
this scene, Tolstoy does not hint about the risks but
instead depicts in detail the pain Lise experiences
during her labor: “Piteous, helpless, animal groans
came from the next room . . . Suddenly a fearful
scream—not her scream, could she scream like
that?—came from the room.” In the end, Lise’s fears
are justified: Unlike Countess Rostov, who outlives
so many of her children, Lise’s son survives his birth
at the cost of his mother’s life.
The birth and parenting experiences of the two
mothers, Countess Rostov and Countess Bolkonsky,
are representative of the experiences that mothers in
that era could expect. Mortality rates for mothers,
infants, and children were much higher than those
of today. Therefore, today’s reader may not catch
the significance of Countess Rostov’s conversation
nor of Tolstoy’s subtle hints. But, even the most
naive reader cannot fail to recognize the tragedy of
Lise’s situation. In a time when having a child is a
relatively safe experience, readers may rely on Leo
Tolstoy’s War and Peace to provide them with a win-
dow looking into the past at women’s experiences
with pregnancy and childbirth.
Melody MarlowreGret in War and Peace
In War and Peace, love and relationships are typi-
cally the reason for the feelings of regret. Prince